Pour yourself a cup of ambition and rock your rhinestones, it's Dolly Parton's birthday! The icon turned 76 on Wednesday, Jan. 19.
For the country queen’s birthday, celebrate Parton's rags-to-riches story with 76 fun facts you may not have known about the star.
1. On Jan. 19, 1946 while snow fell over the Smoky Mountains, Dolly Rebecca Parton was born.
2. Dr. Robert F. Thomas brought Dolly into the world. It’s said that the country doctor was paid a sack of cornmeal for delivering her.
3. Dolly grew up in Locust Ridge in the Great Smoky Mountains.
4. Dolly’s mother, Avie Lee Owens Parton, married her father, Lee Parton, in 1939 when the couple was still very young. “I get a lot of my spirituality and my music from my mom. But I’ve got my daddy’s nerve and determination and work ethic,” Dolly wrote in Songteller.
5. Dolly was born the fourth child out of the 12 kids her parents had. By the time Avie and Lee were 35 and 37 respectively, they had a dozen children.
6. Dolly was raised in shacks and cabins without heat, indoor plumbing, electricity, or running water.
7. As a child, her clothes and toys were all homemade.
8. Dolly started writing songs as a toddler.
9. Her first song was about her corncob doll named “Little Tiny Tasseltop.” Her mother wrote the lyrics down for her.
10. Dolly’s song “My Tennessee Mountain Home” describes growing up in the Smoky Mountains. A recreation of her childhood home with some of the family’s original furniture can be seen at The Chasing Rainbow Museum at Dollywood